Fear
by JuneGilbertVivianRaeven
Summary: On a mission, Jiraiya and Tsunade are separated from Orochimaru. Run ragged with exhaustion, Tsunade truly experiences FEAR when Jiraiya is wounded... And might not make it out alive. Read on to know their fates! Rated T for blood and slight swearing


Fear

I wearily stumbled into the cave ahead of Jiraiya. He was acting as rear guard just in case any of the Kirigakure ninja came after us. I held under my arm a passel of scrolls that were vital to a weapons project Kirigakure was spear heading for the enemies of Konoha.

My hands trembling, I sank down to the floor, gasping for breath. We had ran from the Kirigakure ninja when we realized that the reinforcements were about to overwhelm us. Somewhere along the way, Orochimaru had distracted a pack of them, but they had split and followed us.

Since I was the one holding the information, Jiraiya insisted on following me, even if it made us more conspicuous. I was beyond caring at that point. Behind me, I could hear Jiraiya murmuring jutsus to conceal and protect us as he faced the empty clearing and dark skies alone. With shaking hands, I opened the scrolls for perusal, keeping an ear out for signs of trouble from Jiraiya while my eyes devoured the information.

When I had memorized it, I rolled it up and turned to check on Jiraiya. He was battered and bleeding from several places near the face (his only unarmored area), but he would live. The skies had gone from a navy blue spotted with black clouds to fully covered in rain clouds. There was a charge in the air, perfect for lightning chakra ninjas to use. The place smelled of animal dung and ozone.

I smiled faintly, standing and leaving the scrolls on the ground. Padding over to Jiraiya, who stood stock still in front of the opening to the cave, I rasped, "Jiraiya."

"Nnn?" was the non-committal answer.

"You don't have to keep holding the barrier... They won't find us-" I dropped off mid-sentence because of the stabbing pain I felt in my side. Hand flying to it, I realized that I was only just catching up to the fact that a sword had, at some point, laid my side open. Stupid armor that only covered the front and back... Grunting with the onrush of delayed pain, I put a hand to it to fix it. I had perfected the self-healing techniques... It was on other people that I sometimes had trouble.

"Tsunade?" His voice was hoarse, and almost... trembling. I frowned as I finished fixing the cut enough to where it wouldn't bleed anymore. Looking over at him, I saw the trembling in his hands get worse with each passing second. Quickly stepping around to face him, my eyes widened when I realized his armor had been broken by some impact, shards of metal now impaling him. The armor had a spiders web of cracks spiraling out from the original break.

"JIRAIYA NO BAKA! Why didn't you tell me about this earlier you, you, you stupid head," I scolded, lightly brushing my hands over the shards. I winced when I realized how my own hands came away cut. Hell, these were **sharp. **Why the hell hadn't I noticed? _Damn it Jiraiya. Why do you always have to suffer in silence?_ He always complained about me hitting him, but always silently nursed his wounds.

He swayed backward, and I leapt to brace him before he fell over. His breathing was short and sharp, and the black eyes I had come to rely on were hazed over. Biting my lip, I eased him down onto the ground. His breathing was erratic and shallow, not at all steady like it was supposed to be. I could feel fear at the tips of my fingers and toes, fighting to enter and make me freeze up. Instead, I let it trickle through, numbing me. Working numbly, I plucked the smallest shards I could see from his stomach. I left the bigger shards in until I could assess the damage.

"Tsuni..."

I frowned when he couldn't even get my name right. At least he was still conscious. Blood bubbled over his lip and he coughed hard, spraying me with his blood. I tried not to freak out/be grossed out. Hopefully I would be good enough to save him today.

"Don't try to talk, Jiraiya. Save your strength, OK? Listen to me for once," I said mock scolding, although I was working hard to repress the fear that he might bleed out if I took out any more shards, or he might bleed out if I DIDN'T take anymore shards out.

It was agonizing, to know your friend's life hung on the balance of your own power.

"O..K... Tsuni," he rasped, his breathing pained sounding. I knew it had to hurt, being stabbed in the stomach, but I was realizing there was more damage than I had seen at first glance. My perverted teammate might not make it out of this.

And that simple realization terrified me.

Before I really realized what was happening, I saw something and reached out to grab it, bloody hand and all. It was bigger than my hand, forcing me to grab only a portion of it. The rough, calloused surface was so familiar I couldn't fail to recognize it.

"Jiraiya..."

"Hold...me... Please..."

"I c-can't... I-not yet... I need to heal you first!"

With an ominous crack of thunder, the skies that had looked so heavy earlier finally burst. I gave in to Jiraiya's request, using only one hand to funnel healing chakra into his wounds. His hand was tight around mine, tightening occasionally when my hand probed a sensitive spot.

Maybe hours, maybe days later, I finally finished fixing Jiraiya's battered body to the point where I thought he would make it. The effort, combined with my earlier self-heal, had left me dizzied and very low on chakra. Fumbling one-handedly in my supply pack, I grabbed out a chakra replenish pill. Popping it into my mouth, I ignored the bitter taste as I looked down at Jiraiya.

Jiraiya had passed out at some point, but his grip on my hand still hadn't loosened. I didn't begrudge it to him, funnily enough. I had been kneeling next to him for so long my knees had probably seized up. Coughing a bit, I wriggled and worked it so that I could sit next to Jiraiya, leaned up against the cave wall.

"Get well soon, baka-kun," I muttered softly, squeezing his hand weakly before unconsciousness claimed me.

* * *

**Hey everyone! This is a tale from the Sannin's younger days, obviously. Sorry if I got the wrong country in the war, but fill me in if I do! This was ANGSTY... Wow, didn't know that I could get like this. Anyways, this is to tide a dedicated friend over... As well as apologize for my weeklong absence from this site. :) Hope you like it!  
And, if you do (or don't) leave a review! **

**-June**


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